The Conquest of Dorne

Not to be confused with the conquest of Dorne, the war about which King Daeron wrote his book.

The Conquest of Dorne[1] or Conquest of Dorne[2] is a book written by King Daeron I Targaryen in which he recorded his version of his invasion of Dorne.[2] It is a slender book, written with an elegant simplicity, and it is rich with blood, battle and bravery.[2][1] The book is seen as the best account of the war.[1] Daeron describes the poleboats used in Dorne as "hovels built on rafts", though Princess Arianne Martell notes that the description is not a fair one, since most boats are wonderfully carved and painted.[3]

King Daeron made the armies of Dorne larger in his book than they were in reality, to make his conquest seem more glorious. Dorne has used Daeron's boast ever since to make the kingdom's enemies believe Dorne is stronger that it truly is.[4]The Conquest of Dorne is a favorite of Devan Seaworth.[2]

In his book, Daeron I gave the Dornishmen the names by which other Westerosi now know them. He divided them into stony Dornishmen, sandy Dornishmen, and salty Dornishmen.[5] The young king also remarked that the Dornish love their sand steeds equal to their children, and wrote that the Knight of Spottswood had his sand steeds stabled in his very own hall.[6]

Excerpt

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The arms of House Martell display the sun and spear, the Dornishman's two favourite weapons, but of the two, the sun is the more deadly.[3]

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Quotes

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It pleased the Young Dragon to make all our armies larger when he wrote that book of his, so as to make his conquest much more glorious, and it has pleased us to water the seed he planted and let our foes think us more powerful than we are.[4]